Lauren Mucciolo, Producer/Director

Being Mortal

Death is something we will all one day face. So why is it so hard for doctors to talk about dying with their patients? And how can the medical profession better help people navigate the final chapters of their lives with confidence, direction and purpose?

Renowned surgeon and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande explored those questions in his bestselling book as well as in the documentary “BEING MORTAL” that brings his personal journey — and the stories of patients and their families — to life, and that challenges us all to reexamine how we think about death and dying.

Dr. Atul Gawande visiting patient post surgery.

There will be a multitude of ways to experienceBEING MORTAL: the longform documentary film premiering Feb. 10, 2015 on PBS and online, shortform original video on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, in-depth FRONTLINE radio features, additional original journalism on FRONTLINE’s website, and Gawande’s book.

All told, the multiplatform Being Mortal project will shine an unprecedented spotlight on how patients, families and doctors all experience the end stages of life, and encourage a national conversation about how to live life to the fullest extent possible.

The ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life — all the way to the very end.

BEING MORTAL tackles with fierce insight and poignancy the way in which the medical profession treats those who are dying and how, often, it fails to give them the best options. It’s truly excellent TV. – John Doyle, The Globe & Mail

Though the emotions are raw and the subject grim, BEING MORTAL demonstrates how death intensifies rather than diminishes life’s meaning. – Peter Kough, New York Magazine (also skews on the BRILLIANT/HIGH BROW side of the Approval Matrix)